Tom Kertes

Tom Kertes (born January 4, 1973) is an American human rights activist living in Canada.

Notability

Tom Kertes was media strategist for the United Workers Association's successful living wages campaign at Camden Yards. The association claimed that workers at Camden Yards were paid less than the state and federal minimum wage [http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13785] . For over three years the United Workers Association fought to secure living wages at the stadium [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cleaners08aug08,0,3325166.story?page=1] . On September 6, 2007 the Maryland Stadium Authority voted to pay cleaners the Maryland living wage rate of $11.30 per hour. Adoption of the living wage policy occurred days after a scheduled hunger strike of 11 workers and 4 allies had been postponed [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cleaners07sep07,0,2657343,full.story] , following positive remarks by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.living01sep01,0,1246332.story] .

Tom Kertes worked with the United Workers Association as a volunteer advisor starting in 2003, as communications organizer in 2006 [http://www.citypaper.com/printStory.asp?id=12015] and as a consultant in 2007.

Background

Tom Kertes has worked with the poor people's economic human rights movement since 2002. He has worked with the University of the Poor's School of Labor, which is part of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. Tom Kertes has also worked with Friends and Residents, an organization of public housing residents in Washington, D.C. fighting HOPE VI development of their neighborhood. Starting in 2003 he worked with the United Workers Association, an organization of low-wage workers in Maryland.

Prior to his work with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Tom Kertes owned Children's Garden, a children's book and toy store in Silverdale, Washington. The store closed in 2001 due to losses after snow melt from a snow storm damaged over $200,000 in inventory [http://tomkertes.com/clippings.html] .

Current Work

In 2007 Tom Kertes moved to Toronto, Canada, in response to human rights violations by the United State government and so that he could live in a country where marriage between same-sex couples is recognized [http://www.thestar.com/News/article/243555] .

Tom Kertes has worked as a communications consultant for The Real News [http://tomkertes.com/recentprojects.html] .

Currently Tom Kertes is founding the Centre for Learning and Democracy [http://tomkertes.com/currentwork.html] . The Centre for Learning and Democracy develops training materials, curriculum and other professional development programs for early educators, K-2 teachers and economic human rights organizations. In his work with the Centre Tom Kertes asserts that love should be the basis of both the practice of and justification for early education and care.

Tom Kertes is also an advocate for the right of soldiers to refuse to fight in wars that they deem to be immoral or illegal, having written on the right of moral refusal [http://draftfreedom.org/warandmoralchoice.html] and volunteered with the War Resisters Support Campaign [http://tomkertes.com/currentwork.html] , a Canadian-based organization supporting U.S. war resisters.

References

*Landers, Chris. [http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13785 "Temporary Injustice"] , "Baltimore City Paper", June 27 2007. Accessed October 9 2007.
*Cho, Hannah. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cleaners08aug08,0,3325166.story?page=1 “Stadium cleanup crew, owner talk”] , “Baltimore Sun”, August 8 2007. Accessed October 9 2007.
*Cho, Hannah. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cleaners07sep07,0,2657343,full.story “Stadium crews get raise”] , “Baltimore Sun”, September 7 2007. Accessed October 9 2007.
*Cho, Hannah. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.living01sep01,0,1246332.story “Governor backs pay raise at 2 stadiums”] , “Baltimore Sun”, September 1 2007. Accessed October 9 2007.
*McCabe, Bret. [http://www.citypaper.com/printStory.asp?id=12015 "Unite and Conquer"] , "Baltimore City Paper", July 12 2006. Accessed October 9 2007.
*Vogel, Ann. “Bremerton Sun” May 6 1999.
*Harper, Tim. [http://www.thestar.com/News/article/243555 "More Americans heading North"] , "Toronto Star", August 6 2007. Accessed October 9 2007.
*Kertes, Tom [http://draftfreedom.org/warandmoralchoice.html "War and Moral Choice"] , [http://draftfreedom.org/warandmoralchoice.html draftfreedom.org] . Accessed October 26 2007.
*Kertes, Tom [http://tomkertes.com/recentprojects.html "Recent Projects"] , [http://tomkertes.com TomKertes.com] . Accessed October 26 2007.
*Kertes, Tom [http://tomkertes.com/currentwork.html "Current Work"] , [http://tomkertes.com TomKertes.com] . Accessed October 26 2007.

External links

* [http://tomkertes.com Tom Kertes]
* [http://draftfreedom.org/warandmoralchoice.html War and Moral Choice]
* [http://centreforlearninganddemocracy.ca/tomkertes/index.html Centre for Learning and Democracy]